Lions draw 3-3 with Silkeborg IF

F.C. Copenhagen were held to a 3-3 draw with Silkeborg on Sunday during an entertaining but ultimately frustrating match in Parken.

Jordan Larsson's ninth-minute penalty cancelled out an early Callum McCowatt goal, before Viktor Claesson and Mohamed Elyounoussi put the Lions 3-1 up shortly after the break.

However, McCowatt popped up with two more goals to level the scores and split the points in Denmark's national stadium.

"It was an irresponsible performance that is miles away from what one can and should expect from F.C. Copenhagen," said head coach Jacob Neestrup afterwards.

"The players got a break at half time, even though it was nice enough that we were leading 2-1, but I could see in the first half that there were some who had it too easy and only played at 90%.

"We just can't fall behind again in the first ten minutes for the third home match in a row. That also happened against AGF and OB, and we ended up with two points in the three matches in front of 25-30,000 fans here in Parken, who can rightly expect more. But really, it doesn't matter whether we play here or away, we just have to deliver better now.

"Today we were still in control for an hour, but the mistakes we made, both individually and collectively, were very big and serious. It is very far from the level we need to be at, and in the last half hour we could also have ended up losing the game, even though we had a chance to win it ourselves.

"Last year at this time (of the season) we could explain some defensive mistakes and insecurities by saying that we had a completely new defence that had to play together. But tonight's back line has played together for a long time and is rock solid. So we just have to recognise that we need completely different things in terms of focus and concentration, not just on Wednesday in Lyngby and on Saturday in Haderslev, but for every single game.

"As head coach, I have the greatest responsibility, but the individuals also have it for us reaching this irresponsibly low level in several periods of the game.

"It didn't happen against Malmö, Basel or Leverkusen, but we also need to be able to deliver in the Superliga if we are to have any hopes of playing in the Champions League again next season."